Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1887-03-19

Pail Mall Gazette.

Most people who have been to penny
readings have heard a thrilling Ameri-
can poem relating to a backWoodsmaD
on whose leg tree fell. It is told of
the heroic man that, to save himself from
8 lingering death by starvation. he took
his Ratchet and deliberately hacked of
his imprisoned leg, and proceeded on his
way. Finding his progress impeded bv
the unequal length of his limbs. he sat
down and amputated the other leg at
the same point as the first. Having mn
cesded so far, the narrative drops into a
conversational tone, and, as If answering
an 1nteIruPton, winds up as follows:
''tEEaat do you say? How did Jim stop
the bleeding2 OH Didn't I mentionP
Jlnl's legs was wooden 'uns'' NJ. Treves.
the eminent surgeon, tells a story IN this
weeks Lancet which is equally thrilling,
but does not end In a 'sell." A photog
rapher and his wife were recently return
ing from Australia In a sailing-ship
which carried no surgeon. OF Cape
Horn terrible storm occurred, in which
one OF the crew was killed, the captain
and mate were much injured, and the
photographer sustained 9 compound
fracture OF the lower arm, which in four
days became gsngrenOus. In a consul
tatiOn between the photographer, the
second mate and the carpenter, It was
decided to amPutate the arm well above
the elbow, the Instruments available.
being a saw, shOe-knite, and a sail
needle. The photographer took his seat
on a heap OF sails on deck, which was
covered with snow. None Of the party
had krTawr7rAaT rrga - =
ever seen a surgical operation point
which Mr.. 4reves prOnounces to have
been much In favor Of the patient. The
carpenter began the operation yiy,tltte
OBjcl5, but losing nerve, coded the shoe
knife to the second mate. They had
noted, before beginning, the position of
the Pulsating artery, and were careful
not to sever it. Having ''exposed' it,
they igatized it, and probably the vein
and nerve also, by means of the sail
needle, and then went on cutting, but
with infinite caution, not knowing with
how many similar blood vessels provi-
dence might have been pleased to endow
the human arm. They naturally found
none such, and Mr.. Treves remarks, with
humOr, that it was greatly to their credit
that they did not mistake the uInar
nerve for blood vessel. Having com
pleted their cutting and saving, they
brought the ends Of the severed Larts to
getEer with infinite care and sxsctness.
and seWed them up with q smaller
needle and silk, supplied by the pr otog-
rapher's wife, who appears to have been
standing by. The amputation took the
unusual time Of one hour and forty-five
minutes. Amputations Of the arm, Mr..
Treyes remarks, have been completed In
ess time than this (they usually take a
very few minUtes), but none has ever
been performed with greater ingenuity
and courage. There is no stronger scene
recorded IN the annals Of surgery than
this photographer sitting on a heap Of
sails on a snow clad deck, In the midst
Of the Atlantic ocean, critically survey
ing, during one hour and forty-five min
utes, the RmputatiOn of his own arm by
a ships carpenter and mate with a shoe
knife and saw. 1t Is satisfactory to
know that the brave photographer Is
now quite well, and that he possesses,
owing to the ingenuity and kindly care
Of his shipmates, as sound and useful
stump as any surgeon In London could
have provided him with.
Ship captains are officially provided
with a medical guide, but if they are to
take to capital surgery they should at
least be furnished with charts OF the
human body, and some better instru-
ment than a shoe knife.